I Care About You
by Nyan Nyan Soup
Summary: Request from Tumblr. Ienzo is too busy to let being sick stop him from working. Demyx just wants him to stop and get some rest. Post KH3.


Ienzo slowly tapped away at the keys on the computer's keyboard. His hands were taking their time reaching each one and every few keys he'd pause and have to remember where it was that he wanted to press. It was beginning to get too hard for him to concentrate on his work.

Without Ienzo noticing, a Corridor of Darkness opened up across the lab. Demyx emerged from the corridor with a sea salt popsicle in his mouth and an extra one in his hand. Ienzo didn't seem to realize Demyx was there, so the blonde made his way over to Ienzo and leaned over the shorter male's shoulder. Since his bangs were in the way, Ienzo couldn't see Demyx and Demyx couldn't see Ienzo's face. Demyx slowly brought the extra ice cream towards Ienzo until it was in his view enough for him to see it.

"Aah!" Ienzo shouted in surprise and backed up.

Demyx took a bite out of his own ice cream and took the rest of the popsicle out of his mouth.

"Woah, woah! Hey, chill man! It's just me. Uh, well, and ice cream." Demyx said, holding up the one and half popsicles in his hands.

Ienzo placed a hand on his chest and let out a sigh. "_Please_ do not do that again, Demyx."

"Sorry." Demyx apologized as he put his popsicle back in his mouth and held the other one up to Ienzo.

Ienzo stared at Demyx with an unamused expression on his face before turning away slightly.

"I can't. I don't think it would sit well with me right now." He refused as he got back to working on the computer.

Demyx shrugged his shoulders. More ice cream for him them. He noticed something seemed off about Ienzo though. He wasn't able to get a good look at Ienzo's face due to the shorter male's bangs so Demyx walked over to the other side of Ienzo and leaned in close. He took another bite of his ice cream and removed the popsicle from his mouth.

"Must you do that right in my ear?" Ienzo grumbled and glanced at Demyx.

"Woah, dude! Are you okay?" Demyx asked, sounding surprised.

"Huh?" Ienzo didn't understand why Demyx would ask that.

"Your face is kinda red." The blonde pointed out.

Ienzo tensed up and gently placed a hand over his own cheek. It certainly was warm. He tried ignoring it before, but now that it was actually being brought to his attention he couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Think ya might be sick?" Demyx wondered.

"...M-maybe… b-but I'm fine, really. It's not a problem." Ienzo lied.

He did acknowledge he wasn't feeling well in the slightest, but Ienzo wasn't going to let that bother him so he didn't want to make a big deal out nothing.

"Mn, but if you're sick then you should go lay down instead of standin' here all day. Hell man, that's probably how ya got sick in the first place. Ya gotta give yourself a break every once in a while." Demyx advised before taking another bite out of his ice cream.

"I said I'm fine. Besides, I have work to do and I don't like doing nothing." Ienzo responded, leaning over the computer a bit.

"Ya really don't look like it." Demyx noted after finishing his ice cream and placing the stick down next to the computer.

Ienzo clenched his hands into fists as he started to see two of every key on the computer's keyboard. He really shouldn't have leaned over so quickly. He couldn't even muster up the strength to lift his head up.

"I said… I'm…" Ienzo couldn't finish his sentence as he blanked out and lost his balance.

Demyx barely reacted soon enough to put the second popsicle in his mouth and try to catch Ienzo. He wasn't quite ready and ended up falling to the ground with Ienzo.

Demyx groaned from the slight pain in his butt caused by the fall, but he wasn't too bothered by it. At least Ienzo and his ice cream were okay. Demyx looked down to see Ienzo's head was against his chest.

"Ienzo? Ya alright?" Demyx asked, removing his popsicle so he could speak.

Ienzo let out a small groan, but otherwise didn't respond.

The blonde reached his free hand out and brushed aside Ienzo's bangs so he could get a clear look at the other male's face. Ienzo's eyes slowly opened a bit and he looked up at Demyx.

"W-what… happened?" Ienzo muttered.

"Uh, I guess ya passed out for a second there. There's no way you're fine, Ienzo. Ya really do need to go lay down." Demyx answered.

Ienzo let out some kind of small sound in response, but Demyx didn't know if that was an agreement or not.

"Look, lemme take ya to your room-"

"Nooo. No, no." Ienzo quietly grumbled as he interrupted Demyx and grabbed onto the blonde's coat.

Demyx sighed and took a bite from the second popsicle. "What are ya gonna do, just lay here? I'm sure whatever work ya need to do can wait 'til you're not sick anymore."

Ienzo didn't respond.

"C'mon, get up." Demyx said as he grabbed Ienzo's hand and stood up.

"You really expect me to stand up like this?" Ienzo mumbled, confused as to why Demyx grabbed his hand but didn't have the energy to question it.

"Nope, that's why I'm gonna help you." Demyx replied.

The blonde placed the popsicle in his mouth and used his free hand to grab hold of Ienzo's other hand. Ienzo was a bit uncomfortable with the hand holding, but let Demyx pull him up to his feet. He immediately felt dizzy again and stumbled a bit so he leaned in close to Demyx for support.

Demyx let go of one of Ienzo's hands and took the popsicle out of his mouth for a moment. "Okay, I'll turn around and you get on my back."

"H-huh? Wait, what are you going to do?" Ienzo questioned.

"I'mma carry you to your room. You can't walk like this after all. I don't want you falling down on the way there." Demyx explained.

Ienzo stared at him for a bit before slowly nodding his head. Demyx smiled, put the end of the popsicle stick between his teeth, and let go of Ienzo's hand so he could turn around. Ienzo tried to stay as still as possible so he wouldn't accidently fall over again. Demyx bent down slightly so Ienzo placed his arms around Demyx's neck and lifted his legs up so Demyx could grab them.

"Uh, y-you good?" Demyx asked.

"Yes," Ienzo replied despite feeling a bit awkward. "are you okay though?"

"Uh, hehe… I'm not exactly used to this much effort, but I can make it." Demyx reassured him as he stood up properly.

Ienzo fell silent and placed his head against Demyx's back as the blonde began walking out of the lab. He felt a little bad about making Demyx go through all the work just to get him to his room, but at the same time the fact that someone as lazy as Demyx was even putting forth that much effort for him to begin with was kind of nice. He still didn't like being a bother though.

"Hey Ienzo, can you grab the door?" Demyx asked.

"Huh?" Ienzo lifted his head up to see they were already in front of the door to Ansem's office. "Yeah."

He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open a bit until Demyx used his foot to open it the rest of the way.

"Don't worry about closing it." Ienzo muttered as he put his head back down.

"M'kay, so which way to your room?" Demyx inquired.

"Left at the first turn you get to." Ienzo quietly answered.

Without another word between them Demyx made his way down the hall and Ienzo closed his eyes.

"Why help me? Don't you not care about much?" Ienzo wondered, trying not to blank out again.

"Yeah, sure. I don't really care for anything other than music basically, but it'd be rude not to help out someone who's clearly way too sick to be working. Besides… I care about you too." Demyx answered.

Ienzo opened his eyes. If his face wasn't flushed before then it would be now. Demyx cared about him. Ienzo's arms tightened a bit around Demyx's neck and he buried his face in the back of the blonde's coat.

"Oh, which way?" Demyx asked, standing still at an intersection.

"Straight. It's just down the hall." Ienzo mumbled into Demyx's coat, not needing to look up to know where to go.

Demyx continued straight until he came to the first door he saw.

"Is this it?" He asked.

"Mhm." Ienzo reached for the door and opened it.

Demyx gently kicked it opened the rest of the way and walked into Ienzo's room. He'd never seen Ienzo's room before so it came as a surprise to see the room had a child-like feel to it. It made sense due to Ienzo not living in Radiant Garden since he was a young boy so his room hadn't changed at all, but Demyx didn't fully know that. The room simply seemed uncharacteristic of Ienzo to him.

The blonde walked up to the bed and turned around. Ienzo just let himself fall so he was sitting on the edge of bed. That wasn't exactly what Demyx was going for, but Ienzo seemed fine so he let it be. He finally took the end of the popsicle stick out of his mouth. It was beginning to melt so he took the last bite of it as he made his way over to the bedroom door. As he closed it Ienzo looked up at him with a curious expression.

"Are you staying?" Ienzo inquired.

"Oh, uh… do you not want me to?" Demyx replied and put the popsicle stick in his coat pocket.

"T-that's not it! I just… didn't think you would." Ienzo said, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Demyx let out a nervous chuckle and sat down on the bed next to Ienzo.

"Aren't you at least worried about getting sick too?" Ienzo wondered.

"Nah. Seems like you have a fever and those aren't contagious so I'm not worried." The blonde said.

Ienzo simply stared at Demyx. "Y-... You do know having a fever or not has nothing to do with being contagious, right?"

Demyx's eyes widened a bit but he quickly covered up his shock with another nervous chuckle. "W-well, it's too late now since I did carry you all the way here. So, looks like I'm doomed to get sick too, ehehe."

Ienzo sighed and began taking his boots off. "I think I need to lay down."

"Ya need anything?" Demyx questioned.

"I don't think so. I'm just really hot is all. I'm sure that's what's making me dizzy." Ienzo replied.

"Maybe if you take off more clothes than just your shoes. You are kinda wearing a lot." Demyx suggested.

A pillow suddenly struck the blonde square in the face causing him to yelp.

"I'm not taking my clothes off with you in the room!" Ienzo shouted.

"Well I didn't mean all of it!" Demyx loudly specified.

Ienzo plopped his head down on another pillow and laid on his side, suddenly feeling dizzy.

"...Sure ya don't need anything?" Demyx asked again.

"I don't know anymore. Just… thank you, Demyx." Ienzo muttered and closed his eyes.

"You don't need to thank me. After all, I care about you." The blonde responded.

Ienzo felt something touch his hand. Upon opening his eyes he noticed it was Demyx holding his hand. Ienzo gently placed his other hand on top of Demyx's in response.

"Actually…" Ienzo began.

"Hm?" Demyx looked at him.

"Can you stay right here?" Ienzo asked, his eyelids getting heavy.

"Yeah. Whatever you want, I'll be here to care of you while you're sick. Means I getta sit around with you and do nothin' anyway, which sounds pretty nice to me." The blonde said with a smile.

Ienzo let out a slight chuckle and felt Demyx's grip on his hand tighten just a bit.

"Thank you, Demyx." Ienzo repeated as he closed his eyes.


End file.
